About us

This is a week to get on track with healthier habits for your body, mind and spirit

and set goals for the rest of your life.

If you’ve wondered how to:

- start a healthier way of eating,

- slowly lose weight without gaining it back,

- figure out what’s holding you back

- learn how to break habits that don’t serve you

- feel emotionally balanced and energized

- communicate effectively

- deepen your sense of spirit

- become more mindful

- cope with stresses of life

- start some gentle exercise

Then this is the retreat for you!

We think of detox as a process of getting clear with what serves you. There will be no suffering through fasting or eating anything that doesn’t taste awesome. This is a FEEL GREAT week! We make healthy and delicious food, that your friends will want the recipes for!

This week has a focus on all aspects of your self-awareness – what you eat, how you eat, how you feed your mind, and how you feel in your body. You will eat well and nourish your body with yummy organic vegan meals.

About the
Venue and Teachers

Sugar Ridge Retreat Centre was created to provide a place for people to reconnect with a part of themselves that may be neglected or hidden, to connect with others or just getaway and have some fun!Whether you seek a much needed R&R break, a getaway from kids and family, romance, or a deeper spiritual connection, we will cater to your needs to make your visit a memorable experience. The staff here look forward to making your stay enjoyable. Surrounded by nature, beds are comfy, duvets are cozy, people are friendly and the food is yummy - what more could you want?Located on 150 acres of majestic maple and cedar forests, lush meadows and surrounded by 3000 acres of provincial land, you can breathe fresh air, sleep deeply and feel revitalized just by being here. We have 20 km of trails accessible from the property for hiking or skiing.so you can walk for hours and not see another person or find a special place to sit still in the forest. Take in a Yoga class while you're here or discover Nia. We're pet friendly so bring your pooch for some offleash adventures.We offer a year of events you can join and are open year round.You can come by yourself or bring 39 friends!Sugar Ridge was created from the imagination of Liz & Kurt Frost, the owners.

Liz is a mindfulness coach, certified yoga teacher and psychotherapist who teaches hatha yoga as a form of mindfulness meditation. She has trained with Jon Kabat-Zinn, Saki Santorelli, Lee Lesser, Norman Feldman and most recently with Shinzen Young. She has taught Yoga since 2001 and is the co-owner of Sugar Ridge Retreat Centre, working to make the world a more peaceful place one guest at a time.

My path to Sugar Ridge really started in 1998 when I was working as a stressed-out professional engineer in Toronto. In order to find a way to learn to relax, I searched my midtown neighbourhood for tai chi and yoga classes. One yoga teacher I found, Marie Paulyn, lived and was running her classes only a block away from where I was living. This was too easy… I thought I would give it a try. After my first class with her, I walked out with a stupid grin on my face, from that very universal, post-yoga feeling of being both incredibly relaxed and energized at the same time. I was hooked! I took classes with Marie for about a year, when she approached me and said I would be a good candidate for her teacher training program.By the end of the teacher training program I realized that I really liked working with people. My job as an engineering manager was sort of a “people person” job, but it was far too corporate and “bottom line” focused for my liking. With this mind set change, I became intrigued by Marie’s other career as a psychotherapist. I looked into psychotherapy training (initially as “leadership training”, as I told my company) and began that new path. I fell backwards into a Masters degree in Educational Psychology and fell in love with my wife Liz (who was a fellow student in the Masters program).After Liz and I got married (a few months after we met), we packed up and moved to Midland, where her family was from and where she was living part-time already. I quit my engineering job and have worked teaching yoga or in the mental health sector since.Liz’s dream of owning a retreat centre lead us on a multiyear search for the “perfect” property. We passed over the current Sugar Ridge property several times over the years, thinking it was too expensive. One day we thought we would give it a look and we were sold. The land was just perfect for our vision. We purchased the property and moved to the country just outside of Midland. The Sugar Ridge dream was just beginning and our work hasn’t stopped since…In addition to our work at Sugar Ridge, Liz and I also maintain private psychotherapy and coaching practices, Masala Integrative Lifecare. To broaden my interest in working with men, I also run a regular men’s group, The Men’s Group.

Try free for 14 days

Free Retreat Givewaway

Why Retreat?

It would my first vacation in the mountains. I think getting away and beginning a new routine would be good for me and a friend.
Dianne

Retreat Guru's Vision

We believe human beings are innately wise, strong and kind. This wisdom, although not always experienced, is always present. Going on retreat is a beautiful way to reconnect to our basic sanity and health. Our aspiration at Retreat Guru is to inspire people to experience authentic retreats and reconnect with their innate wisdom, strength and kindness.